Touching Spirt Bear (post 1)

If you were part of Cole’s Justice Circle, what kinds of information would affect your decision-making?

The first thing I would look at is the crime that was committed and if was very serious my opinion would be slightly leaning towards guilty, if it were a smaller crime then I would have more reason to listen and help the boy.  I would then look at the boys background and from that I can determine maybe why he chose to do some of the things he did.  For example in Cole's case he has a harsh background with his Dad beating him and his mother being an alcoholic.  Having that information I would have more sympathy for him and be more angry with the parents.  I would then look for the reason he was doing it and based on that I could assess the situation.  If he was very helpful and nice and was able to explain then things would work out better for him but if he was aggressive and rude then I would not feel like helping him.  Some things that Cole has said to make him seem selfish and guilty is that he expressed he would have never beat that boy up if he hadn't snitched and Cole expressed how he believed it was they boys fault. Another example and I believe the most important part of the book is when Cole says he does not care what people think of him and he does not care about others.

From all we have herd about Cole the one thing I would need to see from him before I would be able to let him be free is empathy.  Cole has a problem right now being he only cares about himself.  It could be because of his parents or something in the past but the main thing I think Cole needs to learn is empathy.  Once he has learned empathy I believe that Cole would be a much better and helpful individual and live a great life.

GINS TASK 4

Hello followers this week I have chosen a quote from my novel "A long way gone" and made word art to more deeply express the meaning of the quote.

The quote I chose from the book is “These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past.” You can find this quote in the book located on page 20.

Here is the word art I created:

This quote early on in the book gives you an understanding of this young mans life and prepares you for what comes ahead in the book.  From this quote you can understand that what happened in the past really effect this person and still effects them all the time. I chose to represent this quote on three pictures because it gives a very powerful visual of the quote.  What I mean by this is that the top picture represents his dreams in which that leads the the middle picture of his life now in New York City and that leads to his past of being a child soldier in the gruelling town of Sierra Leone.  A lot of people that also read this book decided to do quotes from the book when he is in the war and I thought that this quote was much more powerful because it not only shows the effects of him currently but also touches deeply into his past and future.

7th GINS post

Today in class we were given the opportunity to sit down for about 20 minutes and write about our main characters in their perspective keeping in mind the concept of Empathy!

Here is what I wrote:

My name is Ishmael and I am a young boy living a world full of fears.  Sierra Leone, my home town has been taken over by the rebels, luckily I escaped.  I have not seen my family for months and fear for my friends life after we split up.  I have made new friends now and we are fighting to survive in this cold dark place, searching for a path of enlightenment.  Food is hard to get but so far we have managed.  Walking many miles each day is very tiring and I dont know how long I can continue on.  My feet are burnt and black and I can see my rib cage emerging from my torso.  Not only do we struggle without food and water we have run into the rebels far to many times.  We sometimes sleep in villages that have been ransacked by the rebels and I throw up everytime because of the smell and sight of all the dead innocent bodies that lie in the streets. We came across a small fishing hut where a nice old man and women took us in and fed us and healed our wounds.  Shortly after though the village people found out and chased us out of the hut.  We are now back to where we started... alone, scared, and hungry.

6th GINS post

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kzZyDU6Szmk0YBlJFsBKD9EzpKMUw6qfXlY07MU0q6E/edit?usp=sharing

This is a link to my groups google doc containing our version of a global charter of rights and freedoms

My group (Angel and Daniel) really focused on building our charter to what we all thought would be best for the world.  For example in our charter we used private health care because we believe if everyone in the world had public health care resources would run out very fast.  My group when making our charter we really thought and considered how it would work out for the whole world and into the future.  One thing we considered for every part of our charter is the similar problems brought up in our novels and how we could fix them with our charter.  One thing specifically from our novels we focused on was that there was not a real form of government in any of our books so to make our books problems better we really focused on the democratic rights of our charter and making a fair voting rights for everyone.  We also created a council to rule the world which consist of one leader from every country and there is a vote as to whom that person it.  With that we also made sure to make it the responsibility of that council member to take in its countries ideas, wants, and needs and fight for them within the council.  And with that we made it the responsibility of the people to speak their voice and share their ideas, and this is made possible by our fundamental freedoms section and that everyone has the right to speak freely.  One problem we struck in our group was Angel brought up a point about putting "unicorn rights" into our charter but to Daniel and I that didn't make a lot of sense so we ended up not putting it in our charter but we had quiet the debate over it!  Overall our charter was great as it provided equality to everyone and really focused on what was for the good of the people.

5th GINS post

Individual rights in Sierra Leone

Before the civil war in Sierra Leone there were individual rights in place but they were not enforced very firmly.  There were very large drug trades in Sierra Leone and lots of crime that includes, kidnapping, rapes, torture, murder and discrimination.  After the Civil war new rights were ruled about woman's rights, crime, and discrimination.  Although these new rights were implied they are not very well enforced in Sierra Leone as there is still a lot of crime and discrimination especially towards women and children. Another thing I found interesting is that it is very hard to become a citizen there if you are not african american.  Citizens of Sierra Leone don't usually get a fair trial in court and are sentenced to much harsher punishments then here in Canada.  For example theft can lead to 7-10 years in a Sierra Leone prison where there is torture and unfair treatment.  In parts of Sierra Leone these individual rights are enforced very clearly but are still not taken seriously by the citizens and in other parts of Sierra Leone there is no enforcement of these rights and total chaos.

If Canada's Charter was implied in Sierra Leone I think it would be a very different place still with crime but there would an economy and people would be more happy.  I think because of the rights that are in place there now that people get angry with how they are treated and the life they have and thats how all the crime happens.  With Canada's individual rights in place I believe there would be order in Sierra Leone and people would be happy with the rights they have, because right now they can do pretty much anything and get away with it and thats not how people should live.  I think the biggest problem in Sierra Leone is discrimination because if you are white you are highly hated there but also if you are disabled or female there is a lot of discrimination and I think equality among the citizens would really help this place out.

Some specific parts of the charter that I think are needed in Sierra Leone are Legal rights in which fair trials are held and the right to be free unless proven guilty with specific evidence.  I also think that Equality rights would be a huge thing for Sierra Leone as I explained before there is a lot of discrimination  and I think that really effects Sierra Leone and how the economy and lifestyle is there.

As of today the government of Sierra Leone has been promising to pass a bill for individual rights but that has not happened yet.z

4th GINS post

In the past few weeks we have been exploring global issues novels as well as the study of consumerism and economics.  Our teachers have asked us to now make connects from our book that relate to our study of consumerism and economics.

The global issues novel I have been reading is "A long way gone" a riveting, breathtaking story about a young boys life in the war of Sierra Leone.  This novel takes you through the young boys life as he is trying to run away from the war but eventually the rebels catch him and he is forced to become a child soldier. The book also takes you through the struggles in the boy life and how he escaped the tragic place in one piece.

The boys name in "A long way gone" is Ishmael.  He is only 12 years old and he is with his older brother Junior, his best friend Talloi, and his other friend Mohamed.  One thing I really noticed reading this novel is what all the boys’ value. The thing they value most is food but another big value they have is music.  Before reading this book I would have never expected for these boys to value music so much.  The reason that music (rap in particular) is such a key value to them is because it is how they pass their time not having video games or homework and it also is something they love and have a huge passion for.  In a way music helps them cope with what is happening around them.

Even though Sierra Leone is a very poor place and does not have much of an economy you could say they run off a market style economy.  Some people there sell crops or whole food dishes in a market and others sell clothing and novelty items.  This way people buy and sell and contribute to the very small but running economy with no government contribution. Another key thing we have learned about that connects to my novel is the problem of scarcity.  Since Sierra Leone is a very poor place there are not even close to enough materials, land or, money for the wants and needs of the people. Most people there are living in very poorly built shelters and don't have much or any food everyday, and to top that they have to deal with the rebels and the war happening around them.

I think this novel perfectly reflects to one of our guiding questions "How would your consumer identity be different if you lived in a different nation?" If I were to be living in Sierra Leone I would not be doing this post right now I would be working and fighting for myself in a cold, cruel, place.  This book really shows you how your life would be living in that nation and how your consumer identity would be different.  It would be different in a way not having toys and games so often but rather to be buying food and definitely not as much as here in Canada.  While shopping you wouldn't be looking for cookies and cake like we do in Canada, you would be strictly focused on finding proteins and veggies to stay healthy and living.

Bibliography: 

http://www.alongwaygone.com/ishmael_beah.html                                 

-November 19 

3rd GINS post

Roundtable 2